BRM Reviews WWE Elimination Chamber 2011

[Big Red Machine]

WWE Elimination Chamber 2011 (2/20/2011)- Oakland, CA

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. KOFI KINGSTON- 7/10.
I LOVED Ricardo Rodriguez throwing that line in about the Raiders. He does so much to make Del Rio that much better. Del Rio’s promo itself was very run-of-the-mill. Loved the match, though, and that is what is ultimately important.

EDGE-MCINTYRE SEGMENT- LOVED IT!

So many formatting mistakes here:
1. This should have gone on as the main event. It is a World Title Elimination Chamber match! It therefore takes precedence over a regular world title match or a #1 contendership Elimination Chamber match.
2. The surprise entrant should be introduced LAST!!!! (and preferably, then be the first one in the match and come out with a HUGE head of steam.

ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Edge(c) vs. Kane vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Wade Barrett vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Big Show- 9.5/10. WOW! Definitely an MOTYC, and my MOTY so far. This was awesome. Great spots, a great story, and great wrestling.
AFTERMATH- GREAT! I popped HUGE for Christian’s return!

LAWLER INTERVIEW- Can’t rate it.

BOOKER T-TRISH segment- UGH. This was supposed to be a “fun” segment, but it just came off as a waste of time.” Booker T, Trish, & Stone Cold: They are really pulling out all of the stops here for Tough Enough.

WWE TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: KozMarella(c) (w/Tamina) vs. Slater & Gabriel (w/ Ezekiel Jackson)- 4.25/10, but I am SO HAPPY that the titles are away from Santino!

MIZ PROMO- not good

SMACKDOWN SEGMENT- Good, but Lay-Cool should have gotten the better of Trish. Let your heels get some heat! Also, this (& the earlier segment) should have been done on Smackdown.

WWE TITLE MATCH: Jerry Lawler vs. The Miz(c) (w/Alex Riley)- 5.75/10. Enjoyable.
The most important development from this match, though, is the following: Apparently closed fists are legal! YAY! I have never understood this rule at all. It seems so pointless.

CENA SEGMENT- dumb, but at least it was short.

PUNK PROMO- Great.

#1 CONTENDERSHIP ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH: John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Sheamus vs. CM Punk vs. R-Truth vs. John Morrison- 8.5/10 I didn’t like it much until it was down to the final three, but there was some cool stuff before that. I thought Morrison’s elimination of Sheamus looked really dumb.
I liked the thing with Orton going after Punk while Punk was stuck in the door a lot. Yes, it was unfair to Punk (and thus wasn’t really clean), but it shows Orton showing no compassion, and just being the ruthless tweener he seems to want to be. The thing with him getting eliminated was pretty good, but not spectacular.

Overall, this was a very good PPV, with a sure MOTYC on it. Not quite as good as TLC, but close.

Stupid Announcer Quotes:
1. Cole- “There is no Championship Advantage any more for Edge. Five men must be eliminated in order for Edge to retain the Championship”- The “Championship Advantage” refers to the fact that the challenger must win via pinfall, submission, or knockout in order to win the belt, while the champion can also win via count-out or DQ, and even lose by count-out or DQ, and still retain. The number of people in the match is irrelevant.

2. Matthews- “The opportunity to headline Wrestlemania comes once in a lifetime.” Yeah. Because no one has ever headlined more than one Wrestlemania in their lives.


Booker T’s announcing reminds me a lot of early Don West. Not stupid, but definitely not good.

[yourcrapsweak]

Are they punishing Striker?

And let me just say that I totally called Morrison climbing to the top of the dome like that. Before the event started, I was like "I want to see someone climb to the top on the inside," and what do you know, BAM.

[Big Red Machine]

Are they punishing Striker?

No. I think they want Booker T in the booth, and having Cole, Booker, & Striker all together would be three vastly different styles (in terms of how they call matches, the points they bring up, how they comport themselves... everything) that I think would be absolutely unbearable all at once.

[badnewzxl]

I missed almost all of the SD! EC, but the RAW one was okay; though I think the final two should have been Cena and Morrison (Honestly, I think it would have been better if it were Morrison and Punk, but that's just me) bc Morrison kicked ass in that match. I think Sheamus did a damn good job as well, esp being the only heel besides Punk. Speaking of whom, Punk gave a great performance, too; can't wait for him v. Orton at Mania. Cena was (of course) the weakest; he spent the last two or three eliminations laid out. It was a total Hogan/Cena finish.

Morrison should have won that match and faced Miz at WM; Cena can headline WM without it being for the title and it would help WWE to build another face at the top of the card. Rey and Edge are already talking about retiring soon and ppl are obviously getting tired of Cena and Edge; Morrison has been more impressive than any other face in WWE over the last 6-12months. He should get a damn run with the title already....

[Big Red Machine]

Cena was (of course) the weakest; he spent the last two or three eliminations laid out. It was a total Hogan/Cena finish.

G-d forbid that he should sell! Would you rather have him act like Morrison, hurting his leg, getting up and running around, hitting a crazy move, then going back to grabbing his knee and screaming while flopping around like fish out of water?
McIntyre and Rey both sold the same way during the SD EC match, but no one would ever criticize them for it.

Morrison should have won that match and faced Miz at WM; Cena can headline WM without it being for the title and it would help WWE to build another face at the top of the card.

This, I agree with.